From bouncing a ball off a wall at age 3 to hitting a half century at the India-Bangladesh World Cup match… this is where Shubman Gill’s cricket journey started. The Grade Cricketer
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00:00Yeah, I don't really have any coach other than my dad, like, not any primary coach.
00:24I didn't have anybody to throw balls to me.
00:32I want to start from the beginning.
00:34You grew up in Punjab. I'm telling you things you already know.
00:37You had a bat in your hand at age three.
00:39Some might say that's starting a little late in India.
00:42What are your memories of playing cricket as a kid?
00:44And did you do anything unique to become especially skillful?
00:48I think when I first started playing cricket,
00:51I didn't have anybody to throw balls to me.
00:53So I used to hit on the wall and the ball used to come back to me.
00:57So I used to try to keep the streak going on.
01:00So I used to give up 50-60 balls continuously, you know, just so that the streak could go on.
01:05So that's how I basically started playing cricket.
01:08And then my dad saw me one day and then he thought, you know,
01:11it's pretty cool for a three or four year old kid to keep continuously doing that.
01:17So that's when he actually thought, okay, he might be good.
01:21And that's when we actually started practicing and having fun.
01:24I know your dad's sort of been your coach your entire life, Shubham,
01:27but have you had any other coach at any point?
01:29And how does your dad deal with Ravi Shastri?
01:32No, actually, I don't really have any coach other than my dad,
01:36like not any primary coach, but in the under 16s and under 14s,
01:41we used to have like state coaches and stuff like that.
01:43But my dad has been my primary coach throughout.
01:47I made a, like in our under 16 districts, that's like a pretty competitive cricket.
01:52So the players don't usually retire after, you know, getting a 50 or 100.
01:56They keep on playing because obviously they want their team to win.
01:59It's a three-day matches, like a 90-over game.
02:02So I made a 350 in one game and then I made a 400.
02:08But yeah, players in India, like they don't like,
02:10I don't think anyone, any batsman likes to retire after getting a 50 or after getting 100.
02:15With those innings, did you just sort of throw it away at the end?
02:18Were you disappointed?
02:19I was not out when I made a 400.
02:22I was very sad when I got out on 350, to be honest.
02:27I have not been told a major technical change in my game,
02:32like for a long, long time.
02:33I can't remember someone telling me not to change a major thing in my betting
02:37for the last two, three years.
02:39So I think the way they coach here is, I think it's a little bit different
02:43because the players, they play so much of cricket and they've been playing for so long.
02:47It's a little bit difficult for them if you ask them to change their grip
02:50or to change, to make a huge technical change.
02:54So the coaches tend to make changes that would be more of technical
03:02or the technique that they have.
03:04They'll try to strengthen the players around that technique
03:08rather than to change the whole thing and to start from scratch.
03:13For more information visit www.fema.gov